₦airaland Forum

Ghana exported 526,761 MT of cocoa beans in MY2009/10 up from 485,785 MT in MY2008/09.
The busiest shipping season runs from November to April. Cocoa bean exports account for about 40 percent
of the country’s foreign exchange earnings and provide the second largest source of export dollars.
However, according to the Bank of Ghana, export receipts of cocoa beans and products for the first
quarter of 2011 amounted to $859.4 million accounting for about 61 percent of total export earnings as
compared with $682.5 million for 2010 which was 48.8 percent.

The total global value of exporting raw cocoa is approximately $10 billion a year;

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, one of the founders of the notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for hacking on Friday.

On Thursday, a Danish court had found Svartholm Warg, 30, and a 21-year-old Dane only known as "JKT" guilty of breaking into the servers of the Danish branch of IT service provider CSC in 2012 and accessing more than 91,000 social security numbers, driver's license numbers and police records of high-profile people in Europe.

See also: The Unlikely Alliance of Hackers Fighting the Islamic State

"That the attack was systematic and long-term weighed heavily on our decision," Kari Sørensen, the presiding judge in the case, said, according to The Copenhagen Post. "And we have focused on the downloading of a large amount of personal information that can potentially be damaging."

Svartholm Warg, also known by his Internet alias "Anakata," never disputed that his computer had been used in the hacking, but he argued that someone else had hacked into it and took it over, a theory supported by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, who provided evidence in the trial.

The Copenhagen court, however, wasn't swayed and rejected those claims.

The sentencing marks the latest in a long string of run-ins with the law for Svartholm Warg, who was previously given a one-year sentence with three Pirate Bay colleagues for copyright violation in 2009. He fled Sweden but was arrested in Cambodia three years later. He was deported back to the Scandinavian country where he served out the prison term before being extradited to Denmark for prosecution.

JKT was sentenced to six months for accessory to a hacking attempt, but he was released Thursday after after serving 16 months in custody.

Svartholm Warg's lawyers have already appealed Friday's sentence.

jaybee3:
How about you send him back to the cave he crawled out from?

Now this is a red flag that ought not to be overlooked since you guys aren't married yet. You need to sit him down and find out about his other archaic reasoning as they need to be addressed before you go any further.

The trial of Wasila Tasi’u, from a poor northern Nigeria family, has sparked a heated debate on the role of underage marriage in the conservative Muslim region, especially whether an adolescent girl can consent to be a bride.

Prosecutors at the High Court in Gezawa, outside Nigeria’s second city of Kano, filed an amended complaint that charged Tasi’u with one count of murder over the killing of Umar Sani two weeks after their April wedding in the village of Unguwar Yansoro.

Lead prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki said that if convicted, the charge is “punishable with death” and indicated the state would seek the maximum penalty.

Nigeria is not known to have executed a juvenile offender since 1997, when the country was ruled by military dictator Sani Abacha, according to Human Rights Watch.

Tasi’u entered the court wearing a cream-coloured hijab and was escorted by two policemen.

Her parents, who have condemned their daughter’s alleged act, were in the public gallery — the first time the three were in the same room since Tasi’u’s arrest in April, her legal representatives said.

The English-language charge sheet was translated into Hausa for the accused by the court clerk.

Tasi’u refused to answer when asked if she understood the charges.

The case was adjourned for 30 minutes so the charges could be better explained to the defendant, but when the alleged offences were read again Tasi’u stayed silent, turned her head to the wall and broke down in tears.

“The court records (that) she pleads not guilty,” Judge Mohammed Yahaya said, apparently regarding her silence as equal to a denial of the charges and adjourned the case until November 26.

Activists, including in Nigeria’s mainly Christian south, have called for Tasi’u’s immediate release, saying she should be rehabilitated as a victim and noting the prospect that she was raped by the man she married.

But in the north, Islamic law operates alongside the secular criminal code, a hybrid system that has complicated the question of marital consent.

The affected families have denied that Tasi’u was forced into marriage, arguing that girls across the impoverished region marry at 14 and that Tasi’u and Sani followed the traditional system of courtship.

Iceking1:
Wen i read sum comments on other threads here, mostly 4rm d Christain folks here, tears will jst started dripping 4rm my eyes.Thurkey has 98% Christain and 2%Muslim for 1,866 years, but today Turked is 99% Muslims and 1% Christain
i wept for all Christain here, bcus u are all playing with fire, u dnt knw wat is cumin ur way
Christainity is a jst 100+ old in NigeriaSharia was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 11 times
Muslim was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution same 11times
Mosque was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 8Times
Allah and Mohammed was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 6times eachChristain was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 0 times
Church was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 0 times
Jesus Christ was mentioned in d Nigerian constitution 0 times
Now tell me, u see y sum muslim elders call boko haram freedom fighters, yes i totally agreed with dem dey are freedom fighters, and dey are fighting 4 deir rights bcus sharia was mentioned in the Nigerian constitution & dey want sharia

What matters is this remarkable young man, born without legs, and with just one arm, is making a difference and doing it with a ton of heart.

"It was pretty late at night, it was like 11 or 10, spooky, you know," said Nick Santonastasso, a YouTube star.

Nick Santonastasso just knew his new video was going to turn out great.

"In the first scene I'm yelling for help, and in my head, I'm like, 'Are they really not going to help me?'" Santonastasso said.

Um, no, they're not going to help.

The two and a half minute video he and a YouTube artist named Vitaly made for Halloween, has already been seen by 25 million people. Not bad for an 18-year-old kid who was born without legs and only one arm.

"I was born with Hanharts Syndrome," Santonastasso said.

Hanharts can either affect your limbs, as it did with Santonastasso, or your organs, which always leads to death, so he says he feels fortunate.

"In this case it was just missing limbs, I'm 100% healthy, so I'm blessed to be here," Santonastasso said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has confirmed he will run again in February's elections, his office has said.

Until now he had refused to confirm his candidacy for re-election as president.

The announcement comes as he faces mounting criticism over his handling of the Boko Haram insurgency and its abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.

The militants are reported to have seized control of the north-eastern town of Mubi.

The government announced a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram earlier this month that was supposed to lead to the release of the schoolgirls. Thousands of people have fled from the rebels' north-eastern stronghold throughout the course of the conflict.

Local residents told the BBC the militants had raised their flag over Mubi and blocked the main access roads.

Earlier there were reports of heavy gunfire and military fighter jets overhead. Mubi is a commercial hub and the second largest town in Adamawa state.

Residents of the town began to flee following reports that the militants were approaching - soldiers were also reported to have fled.

"There is virtually not a single resident left in Mubi. Everybody has left to save their lives," local resident Habu Saidu told the AFP news agency as he made his way through the bush.

"People in thousands left the town on foot because all roads have been blocked by soldiers and it is not possible to leave by road."

Mubi has in the past witnessed violence attributed to militant Islamist group.

The Nigerian government says it has been talking to Boko Haram in neighbouring Chad with both parties agreeing on a ceasefire.

But even after the announcement was made over a week ago, the clashes continued - raising questions about the validity of the truce.
Rampant corruption

Being the incumbent from a well-financed party, President Jonathan is expected to be the main contender during next February's elections. The BBC's Tomi Oladipo in Lagos says that the president is not only being accused of not doing enough to win the release of the girls - he is also blamed for failing to curb rampant corruption in government and state institutions.

In addition there have been several high-profile defections from the ruling party, including most recently the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram is expected to boost Mr Jonathan's chances if it results in the release of the schoolgirls.

The opposition All Progressives Congress will not select its candidate until early December. The former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari is considered the favourite to lead the opposition challenge for the top job in Africa's largest economy..